An Indian nation should be composed of people who are Indian by blood, the leader of the second largest tribe in the U.S. said last week. During his State of the Nation address, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith criticized...

During his six years in the U.S. Senate, Interior Secretary nominee Dirk Kempthorne signed onto just one piece of legislation related to tribal matters, according to a review of Congressional records. Elected in 1993, Kempthorne sat on some key committees...

"Native American tribes were independent, self-governing communities long before the arrival of the European nations. The government-to-government relationship between tribal governments and the federal government has existed since the formation of the United States. The U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section...

The Seminole Tribe of Florida has reached a settlement with former chief Jim Billie. The tribe will pay Billie $600,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused him of mismanaging a $60 million investment account. The settlement amount is based on...

Tuesday is the one-year anniversary of the March 21, 2005, shootings on the Red Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota that left 10 people dead. The tribe designated March 21 as a "Day of Remembrance" but no public ceremonies are...

Correction/Clarification: Edward Marsette is a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Montana, not the Muckleshoot Tribe. A deadly accident has claimed the lives of two young members of the Muckleshoot Tribe of Washington, with another young tribal member...

The Democratic Party of New Mexico has created its first Native American Caucus. Laura Harris, Comanche, is the chairwoman of the new caucus. She said New Mexico is only the second state with a Native caucus. California's Democratic Party created...

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has just one employee in charge of maintaining all the reservation roads in New Mexico, The Farmington Daily Times reports. That means dirt roads on the Navajo Nation only get tilled once a year....

The Chickasaw Nation plans to seek trust status for a 53-acre shopping center the tribe is buying in Newcastle, The Oklahoman reported. The tribe plans to use some of the land as a training facility for its gaming operations. Other...

A Mescalero Apache family from New Mexico is seeking $325,000 in damages for a haircut given to an 8-year-old girl as part of the "Into the West" miniseries. Christina Ponce was an extra for the TNT miniseries, parts of...

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., agreed to delay sentencing of Jack Abramoff in order for the disgraced lobbyist to continue cooperating with the Department of Justice's corruption probe. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle signed the order on Friday...

Tribal leaders and Indian business owners in New York are preparing for legal battles over the state's tobacco taxes. Under a new law that went into effect March 1, tribal- and Indian-owned retailers are supposed to ensure taxes are collected...

Alaska Native corporations are eagerly awaiting the results of a Government Accountability Office investigation into the billions of sole-source, no-bid federal contracts they have received. Under special legislation that has been upheld by the courts, the corporations have become...

The backers of a nuclear waste facility on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah are offering to sell space at the site to the Energy Department. Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight private utilities, said the government could...

The wife of Rep. John Doolittle (R-California), the congressman has defended Jack Abramoff, started a firm whose only major clients are linked to the disgraced lobbyist, The San Diego Union Tribune reports. Julie Doolittle founded Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions...

Lobbyists in the nation's capitol re already figuring out ways to get around "reforms" being considered in Congress, The Washington Post reports. Members of both parties called for reforms in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal. But with legislation...

"A decade has passed since Elouise Cobell sued the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Treasury on behalf of 500,000 Indians nationwide whose trust funds she claimed were criminally mishandled by the federal government. Cobell, a banker and member of...

"I don't like the unsaid debates. These are the issues that pop up, almost out of nowhere, yet consume our political discourse. Consider the controversy over the Dubai company's purchase of terminal operations at a half-dozen U.S. ports. Sure there...